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Azza, Sachin, SMG to meet Chandrachud

The Chandrachud probe into India's matchfixing scandal will acquire fresh momentum on Thursday after weeks of little activity.

Briefing Justice Y V Chandrachud at the Cricket Club of India on the betting phenomenon in Indian cricket -- whether it exists or not -- will be three of the nation's bestknown cricketers, Sunil Gavaskar, Sachin Tendulkar and Mohammed Azharuddin.

Also invited to the meeting are Sandeep Patil, manager of the Indian tour to England last year, Test discard Nayan Mongia and D V Subbarao, manager on the West Indies tour.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India asked the former chief justice of the Supreme Court to investigate allegations of betting and matchfixing after cricketer Manoj Prabhakar, in an interview to Outlook magazine, claimed he was offered a large sum of money to throw a match in Sri Lanka. The all-rounder claimed that such occurrences were routine and alleged that some leading cricketers were involved in the racket.

Prabhakar refused to divulge names at his meeting with Justice Chandrachud in July, claiming he would be charged with defamation if he did so. However, he has continued to challenge the BCCI, accusing it of being gutless.

This will be the Chandrachud Committee's second meeting in Bombay. At its first meeting, former manager Ajit Wadekar, Dilip Vengsarkar, Ashok Mankad and Sanjay Manjrekar discussed the issue with the judge. All of them denied knowledge of any cricketer's involvement in the scandal.

Only Sunil Dev, a senior member of the Delhi District Cricket Association and former manager to South Africa, reportedly deposed before the judge that "there can't be smoke without fire."

The controversy was stoked further by Pakistani wicket-keeper Rashid Latif who told Outlook in July that senior Indian cricketers kept in touch with him to bet on matches. Latif denied the allegations, aired during the Asia Cup, the day after the interview was published. The Board said it would take Outlook to court, but has kept mum since.

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